Marlene

Lets add to the confusion. I'm pretty sure this is boneless.

I'd like to attempt a pandowdy recipe this weekend. The recipe calls for a combination of apples such as Rome Beauty, Empire and Courtland. Needless to say, I could not find any of these in the stores here. What I did find were Braeburns, Gala's and Granny Smiths. I think there were Royals too. So my first question is, which, if any of these apples should I be using? Or what combination thereof? And what the heck is "sanding sugar"?

Question. How do blade roasts fare as pot roasts? Bruno's has blade roasts on for $2.99 lb but I hesitated to pick one up in case it's one of those cuts you just can't do anything with.

Why not also offer a cheese plate paired with a great port? LBV and Tawny ports are good choices here and within a moderate price range.

One thing you may find is that the cancer patient is not going to eat a normal sized meal. In fact, sitting down at a table where there's a lot of food on it, has to the potential to overwhelm them. Particularly with everyone else looking on expectantly waiting for the patient to down great globs of food. We of course want them to get well, and we know that food helps the process. But sometimes our expectations are more than the patient can handle and they're as afraid of disappointing us as they are of eating and getting sick. One thing I found helped was making things up in child size portions and freezing them individually. Encourage your patient to eat 5 or 6 times a day in small doses. Their stomachs have usually shrunk significantly because with cancer there is almost always a very sharp drop in weight, so they can't take in as much at once and combine that with the nausea that can happen as a result of treatment. The smaller meals seem easier on the stomachs and even pyschologically for the cancer patient. A mountain of mashed potatoes may spin the patient into defeatist mode "I can't possibly eat that", and they don't try, whereas an ice cream scoop size speaks to them of managbility. Ensure sucks as a drink by itself but it is full of nutrients that a cancer patient needs when they can't get food down. Put the ensure into a blender with some ice cream maybe even a little chocolate syrup and blend it up. Maybe add a banana or some strawberries, depending on the flavour of the ensure. It makes it taste better, and they are getting something that should slide down easily and tastes not too bad. (yes, I suppose if you are ambitious, you can make your protein drinks from scratch) And if there is a lot of physical sickness, make sure they are getting some sort of drink with electrolytes in it, similar to what you give babies when they get dehydrated. Most importantly, the cancer patient is more susceptible to infection than most. We are coming into the fall season of colds and flus. Have masks on hand because it's impossible to isolate the patient completely from the real world and people get sick. When a cancer patient is ill, they won't eat. We can afford to skip a meal or two. Cancer patients can't. And an infection can be deadly to a cancer patient. I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about the care and feeding of cancer patients. It's a time that is as draining on the caregiver as it is on the patient. Remind yourself or whoever the caregiver is of the patient, to eat too. And it's always a great idea to have a nice bottle of wine put aside so the care giver can sit down, have a sip and re energize themselves.

We get similar hash browns here. They really aren't that bad at all! And when I'm time challenged, like I seem to be today, we lean heavily on President's Choice frozen Sirloin Burgers, and because I have no fries, tater tots.

I'm Canadian, and it seems to me that while Canadians do celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, Thanksgiving seems to be a much bigger deal in the US. For Americans, the focus on Thanksgiving is a major holiday, while Canadians seem to focus more on the Christmas holiday. Or maybe that's just my perception. In any event, for several years now, I've been doing Prime Rib instead of a full Turkey and usally a bone in Turkey breast for those who seem to need the traditional Turkey fix. I'll make a cranberry-bread dressing to accompany the Turkey and Yorkshire pudding to accompany the beef. We'll have two kinds of potatoes often. Roasted potatoes with the beef, and garlic mashed with the turkey. Carrots done in the slow cooker are standard at large family gatherings in my house because it's easier. I'll make gravy for each type of meat. The turkey breast gets brined before roasting. No one is a big fan of pumpkin pie, so we might have an apple tart, or even, creme brulee. I also have one of those re-imaged families, so there's plenty of opportunity for my son to get the traditional fare if he wants it.

I have two threads going about feeding, cooking for and getting the cancer patient re engaged in the kitchen. Bringing food to hospitals handicapped cooking People gave me lots of great ideas in those two threads. Good luck!

I have to say that using this pot roast for hot beef dip sandwiches was outstanding. I had sliced the roast earlier and put it in the fridge with the sauce poured over it. I heated the beef and sauce together, turning the slices so they got soaked in the sauce occassionally. Toasted the buns under the broiler first , then layered the heated roast on top. The sauce to this roast is a nicely rich sauce. Not so rich as to be too much, and definately not too salty, which can be all too common with beef dips in restaurants.

I don't know why it is, because washing dishes with his at home is just a tug of war. Maybe it's the different enviornment we're in. I just know that I treasure those moments. Few and far between that they are. btw, your post was beautifully written.

For me, it's actually doing the dishes with my son, (usually when we are camping), that gives that defining moment. As he moves into young adulthood, and moves farther away from me, those are still the moments we share as mother and son. During those times he actually talks to me about his hopes and dreams and plans for the future. I hope I will always have my husband to do dishes with, but someday, my son will move out and share those wonderful dishwashing moments with the partner he has chosen.

The Daily Gullet is also running excerpts of the book Here.

After my recent disaster with pie crusts, I'm adding pre -made crusts to my cheat list.

I like this idea! With only two people in the house who eat dessert (I'm not one of them!), this would save me a ton of waste! Of course, my husband always accuses me of making enough for an army. I mean who knows when someone will show up on your doorstep, needing to be fed!

It was quite good. We're having leftovers tomorrow as beef dip. I chose to braise in red wine and beef stock. For the aromatics I used, carrots, shallots and celery and I threw in a little chopped garlic, just because I love the smell of it sauteing. I fried some thick bacon chopped up in the drippings after browning and tossed that into the pot as well. For the flavourings I grabbed from my garden, parsley, thyme, bay and it might have been oregano. Tied them up in a satchet with a little more garlic. halfway through I put in some carrots and potatoes. I let it braise very slowly for about 4 hours, then degreased the sauce, and put the whole thing in the fridge until last night for dinner, when I sliced and heated it with some of the sauce and the rest of the sauce I reduced. It was pretty darn good.

Crockpots are a wonderous thing. I use mine constantly in the winter for stews, chillis, spagetti sauce and onion confit. Before I began braising, I regularly did pot roasts. Spareribs are amazing done in the crock pot as well. There's nothing better than being able to turn on the pot in the morning, and come home to wonderful smells and dinner ready.

Most braises will leave leftovers and braises are always improved the second day around. Pot roast, pork shoulder, beef ribs. With the pot roast and pork shoulder braises you can put the potatoes and vegetables in the same pot to braise, creating your one pot meal. Left over pot roast can be made into beef dip sandwhiches for example, or reheated as is with some of the left over sauce. Chili.

I braised a pot roast on the weekend from Molly's article in Fine Cooking this month. The pot roast will be tonight's dinner. I'm looking forward to more braising this fall and winter.

Yes, I tried spraying basket with Pam. No luck, either. The fish actually did taste fine, it was just a major sticking issue. I can certainly do one piece at a time, but I'd certainly try Malawry's method of getting them in first. I did put the fish in the basket and then lowered it into the oil And I used Alton Brown's recipe for Fish and Chips. There was no cornstarch in the pie, but there was Tapioca, which is also a thickener isn't it? Expecially for pies. Ah well, it was interesting.

Someone else mentioned Old Bay to me recently. I don't know if it's available here, so i'll have to check. It's been years since I used Mrs. Dash consistently. As I recall, several years ago, there was only one kind. I'm pretty sure there are several combinations out there now. as in fact there are. Mrs. Dash has come a long way since I was a kid!

I'm not at all sure I could let the fish free float in R2D2. Wouldn't it sink down onto the heating element? And since I can't get more than two pieces into the fryer at a time anyway, I'm not sure that using a dutch oven would be any worse. I suppose I could be convinced to try this once more using the free float method. Of course, I'll need to let the memory of the fishy smell in my house fade first. Nothing like waking up in the morning to the scent of recently fried fish. Gak.

Compound butters sound interesting. I'd think you could freeze those too. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has done this.

Did you ever have one of those days, where you should have just stayed out of the kitchen? Draw near gentle readers, and I'll tell you a story. (Of course I considered just saying, I didn't have time, etc etc) but really one must share the bad with the good. Sigh. I just knew the day wasn't going to go well once I began my third batch of pastry for pie, in less than an hour. Those of you who know me, know that pie pastry is not my forte. However, I'd bought raspberries, and Ryan really really wanted a raspberry pie. Snowangel assured me that I couldn't go wrong with Julia Child's recipe for pastry. Of course! Julia makes even pastry idiots like me look good! Thus assured, I set out. Alas, I have failed Julia. I'd say Julia failed me, but I'm quite sure there is nothing wrong with her recipe. Its the hands the recipe was in. It didn't work for me. I tried it twice. Each time I got the requisite streaks of butter and shortening. But I couldn't roll it out. I tried, I really did. I had lots of flour on the board and on the pin. Oh, and lots on me. I finally dug out my recipe that I use when making Rustic Tarts. I'd had success with that one, and really, pastry is pastry, right? I should be able to use this recipe for a pie instead of a tart. The dough rolled out beautifully, and I (awkwardly) managed to get the bottom crust into the pie dish, poured the raspberry mixture in and rolled out a top crust (yes, snowangel I know, but Ryan won). When it came out of the oven, I have to say, it didn't look that bad. It wasn't fancy. (I can't flute to save my life), but it looked presentable. Unfortunately, it wa sort of soupy inside: It was however, very good. Just a little runny. Oops. By this time, I was frazzled, but I figured how hard can fried fish be? Batter it up, fry it, eat it. Right. I'd done very well at getting everything ready ahead of time. (by the way the quality of some of these pictures sucketh. I'm using my son's camera which is way different than mine. Just another shining example of my day). I'd cut the potatoes up for fries ahead of time and soaked them in ice water. I'd made the batter and let it rest: R2D2 was loaded with oil and ready to go: Have I mentioned that one of the reasons I don't cook fish is I can't stand the smell of it, raw or cooking? Nothing is guaranteed to make me run the other way faster. I opened that package of fish, and I was ready to pack it in. I should have. Trust me. And thus I began. I used Alton Brown's recipe for fish and chips. His recipe calls for frying the potatoes first in oil heated to 320 until the potatoes are soft and floppy. Then take them out and cool them while heating the oil to 375. So I did that. Don't they look floppy to you? Once the oil is heated, toss them back into the deep fryer and cook until golden. Ok, so one or two are slightly more than golden, but it just adds to the charm of home cooked don't you think? I sprinkled them with salt and held them in a 200 degree oven. AB calls for the fish to be dredged in cornstarch then dipped in the batter. (There's that cornstarch thing again). Then put them into the fryer until the batter has "set". (what exactly does that mean, dear Alton?), then turn them. Oh oh. This is where I ran into my first major dificulty. I tried to turn them, and they wouldn't budge. They were stuck fast to the bottom of the basket, and nothing I could do would dislodge them. So I held my breath, lowered back into the oil and prayed that not turning them wouldn't count against me. When they looked like they were done, (purty aren't they?) I took them out and futilely tried to pry them from the basket. Nuh uh. No way, no how were they comin lose. I turned the basket over and discovered why. The batter had seeped through the holes in the basket and fried itself shut. Effectively sealing my fish to the bottom forever: I did finally get them out, but it wasn't pretty, and they're purtiness was kind of destroyed. I suggested to Ryan that the local pizza place or the local fish and chips place was probably still open. My son has beautiful manners. Although I could see the doubt in his face, he insisted that we try these anyway. And so we did.: They actually weren't bad taste wise. And of course we had to finish off with a little raspberry soup. Disguised with whipped cream, who can tell? So the food was great, the method sucked. Next time, (don't hold your breath), I'll do this in a deep dutch oven, which AB suggests anyway, Duh. The fish obviously needs to free float in the oil, because it will stick like a sum a bitch to anything it can get it's little battered fingers on. There's something to be said for letting the experts do their thing. When I want fish and chips, I think I'll drive to my local fish and chips place. When I want pie, I should visit a bakery. Sigh.

The island we built in our kitchen seems to have become the catch all dumping grounds for school books, bills, husband's keys etc. I'm constantly having to clear it off to use the surface for what I intended it for. Prepping. and we even have a desk behind the island that people can dump stuff on, but they never doo. My biggest beef is that he never closes a kitchen cupboard door. One of these days, someone's going to walk right into one.

The key is time spent together. It doesn't have to be at the dinner table, and given the amount of activities kids seem to be involved in today, that's just not always feasible. But we play board games together, ride our bikes together and even at 13, Ry and I still read together in the evening. Families of course should eat together when they can. That's where table manners, the art of carrying on a conversation etc are well learned. But I don't think that families fall apart if they don't eat together every night, as long as your child is getting quality time with you somewhere.